Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

The Last Blockbuster Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 13, 2021

Most everyone at or over 40 who has any interest whatsoever in movies probably has fond memories of browsing through a local video store. For this reviewer, it was, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rick's Video in Greensburg, PA, as well as the video rental sections in the local Giant Eagle and Davis Supermarket stores, not to mention countless jaunts to browse and buy at Suncoast Video (primarily for VHS tapes) and Camelot Music (primarily for LaserDisc), both then-located in Westmoreland Mall. Blockbuster would be big -- huge -- a bit later on in the 1990s and into the 2000s and did a lot of damage to the local mom and pop rental houses. Blockbuster is essentially a thing of the past now, of course, with rented physical media having been all but replaced by digital streams. The Last Blockbuster takes a loving look at the last of the once-great chain's rental stores in Bend, Oregon, somehow defying the odds and remaining open after thousands of stores have shuttered (at one point a new store was opening every 17 hours), essentially solidifying digital's dominance in the rental landscape for the foreseeable future.

The Good Old Days.

It starts with the end: why did Blockbuster go under? The answer: Netflix, most say, but former Blockbuster C.F.O. Tom Casey has a different answer. But that is for later on in the film. As the number of stores declines and eventually leaves the Bend, Oregon location as the last one remaining, a curiosity almost becomes a shrine for some locals, a few celebrities, and a handful of people who travel partway across the country or even halfway around the world to pay it a visit. The store’s general manager is the likeable and dedicated Sandi Harding who has employed much of the town over the years. She works hard to keep the operation running in a world where acquiring rental copies isn't so easy. When she can’t finagle a new release from the vendors, she heads over to the Bend Target to pick them up on release day and purchase a few treats for resale, too. Beyond the Bend store, the film covers the franchise’s history, including its roots in Dallas and the various sales to people like Wayne Huizenga and Sumner Redstone and, ultimately, to Dish Network. It also looks at what made the store a success: it stayed open late, was family friendly, kept a computerized inventory, and perhaps most importantly created a “sales floor” where customers could browse, hold the box, and make their decisions in a more personal, tangible way. It looks at the benefits of working for Blockbuster both in its heyday and now in Bend and interviews several celebrities friendly to the store, including Kevin Smith. Then there's Lloyd Kauffman who can’t say enough…bad…things about the chain.

The Last Blockbuster looks at the birth, life, and death of an American icon in the wake of a new digital age that has surrendered personal interaction and tactile relationship with a movie in the name of digital convenience, where a movie is rented in the æther rather than in physical form. Much of the movie is rightly spent looking around the store, interviewing nostalgic subjects and chatting with the very likeable Sandi Harding, but at the film’s center is the culture shift towards a more impersonal approach to much of life. Phone calls often give way to text messages. Social media has replaced physical social interaction. Digital streams have done away with physical movie rentals. For many, Blockbuster was a centerpiece of life. Dates often started or ended in its isles. New favorite movies were discovered. And that feeling of being able to touch the movie and smell the ambience and interact with someone and make renting a movie like a treasure hunt rather than a press of the button is, sadly, no more.

The film is spirited in construction and delivery and gives an honest recount of the company's successes and failures, why it was able to beat its competition in its heyday and why it lost the battle to mail-in and, eventually, digital stream services during its decline and fall. History is one reason to watch, soaking in the footage from inside the store is another, but it is perhaps its interview subjects, who are not just nostalgic for Blockbuster but who genuinely miss the store (and others like it) and the experience of picking through tangible items, looking at box art, and holding something in the hand, that make the movie work. There are very real emotional responses, people looking fondly back at memories recalled and a way of life remembered. They're not so much enemies of progress but rather friends to the old way of doing things and all of them give compelling reasons why, for movie fans, there was nothing better than that video store experience.

The Last Blockbuster Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Last Blockbuster's 1080p, MPEG-2 encoded transfer gets the job done and satisfies requirements for this type of production. This is sourced form a lower grade digital shoot and as such various issues – heavy compression artifacts, banding, and noise -- are commonplace throughout. But, frankly, this is not a film to watch for the sole purpose of ogling over the video transfer. It's instead about the last bastion of a bygone institution and it's narrative, not the way it looks, that's important (perhaps much the same could be said of most any movie out there, but it rings particularly true here). All of that said, the essentials are in fine working order. Color output satisfies, particularly, and obviously, the blue and yellow Blockbuster colors seen on signage and throughout the store, employee shirts, and the like. Additional color output is fine. Contrast is neutral whether talking natural greens or skin tones or the colorful video boxes lining the shelves. Fine object detail is adequate, including rental boxes, skin, clothes, even the carpet in the store. Clarity is fine with fundamentally clear imagery the norm. Various source and encode artifacts are present in regular to severe quantities, but chances are most watching the film through a nostalgic lens will forgive the otherwise poor work here.

The Last Blockbuster Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Last Blockbuster's Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack favorably compares to the broadest of the video quality observations: it's flawed but it gets the job done, and its flaws are generally glossed over in favor of the content it carries. The production is primarily all about the spoken word. Whether narration, static interviews, or chats out on the store floor or around Sandi's kitchen, dialogue clarity is always fine and images nicely to the center. Light musical supports play with pleasantly wide spread along the front and solid foundational detail. There are a few added sound effects scattered throughout, and right down to snapping shut the old, familiar VHS boxes each of them plays with enough authenticity to please.

The Last Blockbuster Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Last Blockbuster contains a number of additional scenes and a trailer. A DVD copy of the film is included with purchase. Conversely, no digital code or slipcover are included. All extras are presented in 1080p MPEG-2 encoding.

• Official Trailer
• Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee: An interview with Brandt, who works at one of the last video stores in Los Angeles.
• More with Kevin Smith: The film's most famous interviewee talks more about his movie rental experiences.
• Talkin' Movies with David McAbee: Why movies matter.
• JC from Scum & Villainy: J.C. Reifenberg, a former Blockbuster Assistant General Manager, recalls how Blockbuster impacted the rental landscape and talks the rental process.
• Andres "The Last Blockbuster" Music Video: A music video celebrating the store in Bend, Oregon.
• Our Chat with Coach Pete: The author and radio personality briefly talks up memories of rentals.
• MTV's Matt Pinfield: Pinfield discusses the absence of rental stores and physical media.
• Worldburglar "Rental Patient" Music Video: Another music video in celebration of the rental process.
• Ska-Punk Show at a Blockbuster (1080p): Making music inside a closing Blockbuster store.

The Last Blockbuster Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's a strange feeling to experience nostalgia when there's still "a" Blockbuster in existence but that store in Bend, Oregon is as much a curiosity, a destination, a museum these days as it is a place to check out the latest movies, pick up an old favorite, or discover a new one. Sure it purportedly does good business on the weekends but one can only wonder if it's not surviving more on, now, reputation rather than rentals, more on memories rather than movies. The Last Blockbuster is a touching film, made from the heart, about a business, and a business model, that's all but dead and buried. In that way it's very reminiscent of the excellent Jasper Mall, but chances are this film is going to resonate more with the movie watching crowd. Passion River's Blu-ray includes some extras but also features middling video and audio, but the disc comes highly recommended for the film; it's well worth a buy for every Blu-ray.com member.